Veg Tanning Rawhide - Advice Please!

Hi everyone,

I plan to buy a piece of unbleached kangaroo rawhide and tan it at home.

Please help with advice about what barks I could use to tan it with. There are eucalypts everywhere here, which I've heard are full of tannin. Alternatively, I am open to using other things such as black tea leaves, or a commercially available formula if they exist.

All of the commercial tanning kits I have looked up are for chrome tanning.

Any tips would be great.

That sounds like fun.

Here is a thread on bark tanning:

https://permies.com/t/1145/permaculture-leathercraft/Tanning-hide-Hemlock-bark

Hi there - I can recommend  "The Bushman's Handcrafts"  by R. M. Williams.  Still in print.  Your local library may have a copy if the interest is fleeting . . .  Tan barks from native trees is covered, it recommends drying the bark, soaking in warm water to see how dark the tannin is - aiming for a light tan;  that depends on what you might use the skin for though
It deals with tanning, both veg and chrome then goes on to uses, including making a saddle, stranding and plaiting belts, "stringing" a bed frame with rawhide,  it'll keep you out of mischief for ages.
Also you may care to research brain tanning - each animal is supposed to have sufficient grey matter to tan its hide.